Sony Just Unveiled A New Fitness Tracker That Lets You Answer Phone Calls

Lisa Eadicicco, provided by

Published 10:45 am, Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Just a few months after it launched its first fitness tracker, Sony has unveiled the SmartBand Talk — a smart wristband with a curved e-paper display and a speaker for answering phone calls.

The SmartBand Talk looks almost exactly like the standard SmartBand, but with a small e-paper display on the front.

That means the screen will be easier to read in sunlight than your standard color touchscreen, and it'll draw less power, too.

The screen is tiny, but it's just enough to read short notifications, check the time, and keep an eye on your fitness goals. As shown in the photo above, the SmartBand Talk displays a circle with the LifeLog logo to show you how close you are to meeting your goal.

Even though it has a speaker for answering short phone calls and a display, the SmartBand Talk is still waterproof. It'll also run on Sony's Core, a small module that houses the band's sensors and computing components, which means you'll be able to take it out and switch out the bands.

Like the standard Sony SmartBand, the SmartBand Talk will integrate heavily with Sony's LifeLog app. Sony introduced LifeLog at this year's CES, emphasizing that its goal is to measure much more than just your health statistics. Any photos taken with your smartphone and activities you've done during the day appear in your LifeLog timeline, with the goal being to show you a virtual playback of your day.

Sony hasn't disclosed exactly when it will launch yet, but it should be out before the holiday season. The current price is listed as 159€, which equates to about $208.

Based on what we've seen, the Sony SmartBand Talk certainly looks attractive and comfortable enough to win over consumers. But it'll be tough to break into a market that's largely dominated by Fitbit and Jawbone.